Niner spoke candidly in a recent interview about its plans to enter the enduro and gravity arenas this year, and the first prototypes were seen in the pits of the Colorado venue of the Enduro World Series. Niner's Nate Adams and Brad Cole raced the new design and Nate Adams allowed PB photographer Philip Roupp to snap a few quick shots of the bike. The bike had Jett graphics and sported RockShox suspension, with a 160mm Pike fork and an apparently customized Monarch Plus reservoir shock, spray-painted white.
No details were forthcoming from Niner about the exact travel and geometry of the bikes, but '150' was etched onto the top of the shock and rough calculations of the linkage and shock-stroke indicate that rear wheel travel should be close to 150 millimeters. The drivetrain was SRAM X0, and there appears to be a provision for a front derailleur. As far as frame design and geometry goes, the new frame follows Niner's established RIP and WFO DNA, with a deeply curved top tube, CVA (constantly varying arc) dual-link rear suspension, and a seat tube with a pronounced curve in its mid-section to assist rear-tire clearance at full compression. Measuring from the side shot gives us a head angle in the neighborhood of 67 degrees - plenty slack for a big-wheel bike intended for AM/Enduro.
Niner has a strong foothold in the XC/trail community, but has yet to make a sizable dent in the long-travel and gravity side of the mountain bike spectrum. With a significant number of gravity riders on board, Niner is not short on passion or motivation, so its forthcoming Enduro and DH projects will be worth watching. We'll keep you posted.
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I figured I'd go fox when I bought my AM bike since I was dissapointed with the 2010 RS fork, It works very well in general except for the massive break dive. I'm going to change the DH fork and I'm starting to consider anything not RS/fox because I'm truly not impressed with either so far.
Now show me were I said Fox wasn't.
@focofox37 the crank makes no real difference, the biggest part of it is the chainring and the way it engages with the chain. Nate is running a 10 speed setup here with an XX1 chainring, and so far he hasn't dropped a chain.
@maxlombardy, yes, see my comment above.
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49 16
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2964 26
135 650B - 27.5"
310 29
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Bike looks good, for a 29".
They ride awful
W(t)FO happened with diversity? Why we have a hundred-bloody-thousand bike companies and most of the stuff they make looks all the same? 100k companies and 5 factories, I get it, but hello... Long live baloon wheels and self-pressurizing wheel systems, at least some hope that human beings still have imagination
I know it is damn hard to make a turn, after being considered a weirdo for so many years, and suddenly the world realized you were right all along, and jumped on your 29" ship. But that ship is now overcrowded and the original captains have been slowly drowning in the mainstream. Since they were ahead of everybody on that front, I was just expecting to see the future of 29ers by no one else but Niner, yet it is Spesh that seems to have stolen that show...